Temperature control apparatus and method for operating a reduction rolling mill



Nov. 19, 1968 J. w. COC K TEMPERATURE CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REDUCTION ROLLING MILL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ?iled Nov. 10, 1966 INVENTOR John W. Cook BY ATTORNEY J. W. COOK Nov. 19, 1968 TEMPERA'IURE CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REDUCTION ROLLING MILL Filed Nov. 10, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheez 2 FIG.2.

|20 ISO 200 240 TIME-SECONDS FIG.3.

TIMESECONDS* FIG.4.

TIME-SECONDS- United States Patent 3,411,332 TEMPERATURE CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REDUCTION ROLLING MILL John W. Cook, Williamsville, N.Y. assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporaton of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 593,471 9 Claims. (Cl. 72-9) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electric roller hearth furnace is installed on the mill entry table prior -to the first finishing stand of a plural stand rolling mill. The furnace temperature is controlled in coordination with the mill acceleration rate and the workpiece schedule so that the mill is accelerated in a predetermined manner in cooperation with the operation of the furnace to maintain substantially constant delivery temperature from the last stand of the mill throughout the full length of the workpiece.

The present invention relates to control systems and methods for reduction rolling of metal workpieces or other materials, and more particularly to hot reduction rolling mills in which delivery temperature of the rolled workpiece is controlled by at least speed variati-on and a workpiece heating furnace either individnally or in combination.

It is well known that the delivery temperature of hot rolled metallic workpiece such as a strip is a deterrninant of the metallurgical quality of the delivered product. For example, low carbon steel is generally characterized with its best range of metallurgical and other properties, if it is rolled from a hot bar to a finished strip at a delivery temperature approximately in the range of 1500 1600 F. The particular delivery temperature or range of delivery temperatures at whch any particular metallic workpiece is rolled to optimize a particular desired property or 'to optimize particular groups of such properties is usually empirically determined and is dependent on the makeup of the material. In the following discussion, delivery tem peratu-re is meant to refer to the workpiece temperature as the strip is delivered from the last hot working point such as the last stand in the hot strip finshing mill. Entry temperature is that to entr"y to the finshing stands. Coiling temperature refers to the temperature of the strip as it is being coiled on a downcoiler and is usually controlled by a water spray or other cooling means over the 111nout table. The strip delivery temperature and the strip coiling temperature are desirably separately controlled since they produce separate effects on the workability and other properties of the finished strip product.

Since strip delivery temperature is is quality control of het rolled strip, and since delivery temperature can vary because of varying ambient heat losses and varying entry and operating conditions for various workpiece operations, some degree of delivery temperature determination or control is required, at least to maintain the rolled product within an acceptable range of quality. In the typical conventional approach, the mill operator enters workpiece bars into the mill with an estimated or known entry temperature and geometry at a known mill speed and, by interpretation of temperaturespeed prediction curves or simply by experimental expertise the entire workpiece is rolled into strip normally without strip delivery temperature dropping below a predetermined minimum value even though the material undergoes ambient cooling throughout the rolling time.

a significant factor temperature of the strip just previous 3,411,332 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 Although the entire strip may thus have generally acceptable quality, it is characterized with substantial nonuniformity in properties and quality along its length solely because the strip delivery temperature is not adequately controlled and is permitted to drop from the leading to the trailing strip ends. The actual practice under this conventional approach only a relatively small portion of the strip may actually have the desired optimal characteristics. Furthermore, errors in judgment as to the entry slah parameters can result in inferior rolled products wh1ch either require subsequent annealing or are totally unacceptable.

In the past few years mill installations have been geared to higher speed operation and equipped with power to allow rolling of larger coils. Since it is not possble t0 thread a downcoiler at speeds much in excess of 2000 f.p.m. it is standard practice to thread at some lower speed and then accelerate to speeds in the 3000 to 4000 f.p.m. range. T0 maintain a constant delivery temperature over the entire length of the strip under these conditions presents a formidable control problern. If the mill accelerates too rapidly the delivery temperature will overshoot and be too high whereas on long coils, the workpiece strip may become too cold on the tail end due to heat loss on the entry table leading to the rolling mill. As such, the size of coil which can be rolled on a mill is decidedly limited by these latter factors.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a temperature control is provided which will better control the delivery temperature of the workpiece strip even on extremely long rolling cycles. This is especially important in light of the rapid progress being made in continuous casng whereby a longer coil becomes practical. It would be most desirable to roll c0ils on hot mills as large as those on cold mills whch now have a maximum outside diameter of inches or have a weight of 1600 lbs./in. width. With the proposed system these limits could easily be exceeded.

The desired temperature control is achieved by an electric roller hearth furnace installed on the mill entry table between the previous rougher mill and the first finishing stand of the rolling mill where the temperature control is installed. The purpose of this furnace is twofold: (1) heat loss from the workpiece is limited by increasing the ambient temperature, and (2) the atmosphere surrounding the steel workpiece is controlled to limit the amount of oxide or scale formed.

Control of the furnace temperature would be coordimated with the mill acceleration rate and the workpiece schedule being rolled so that the mill would be accelerated in a predetermined manner in cooperation with the operation of the electric furnace to maintain a substantially constamt delivery temperature from the last stand of the mill throughout the full length of the workpiece strip thereby allowing a higher production rate. A desirable method and system of mill acceleration control is described in copending application Ser. No. 499,493 entitled Temperature Control System And Method For Operating A Reduction Rolling Mill, by John W. Cook and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved and novel control system and method for a reduction rolling mill whch efliciently operates the mill to provide improved workpiece uniformity and qual ity in rolled products.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel control system and method for a hot strip reduction rolling mill whch more efliciently operates the mill under open or closed loop acceleration and ambient temperature control to better regulate the strip delivery temperature to a substantially constant value or within a predetermined range of values thereby te produce improved uniformity of product quality.

It is another object of the invention te provide a nevel control for a het strip reduction rolling mill wherein the atmosphere about the werkpiece can be better controlled fer regulating the degree of oxidation er scaling en the werkpiece.

It is a general object of the present invention te previde a more desirable improwed control apparatus and methed for regulating the strip delivery temperature in a het strip rolling mill and particularly fer holding the strip delivery temperature more constant se as te preduce more substantially uniform product quality along the rolled strip length.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description along with the attached drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a control arrangement for a het strip steel reducton rolling mill operated in accordance with the principles of the present invention, and

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary temperature decrease of a 1.25 inch bar as a function of time at various ambient temperatures, and

FIGS. 3 and 4 show speed and entry and delivery temperature curves during rolling of a 1.25 inch bar.

More specifically, in FIG. 1 there is shown a het strip reductien and -finishing rolling mill for whch a control system in accordance with the present invention is previded. The mill 10 includes a plurality of rolling stands S1 and S2-S6 through whch strip 16 is passed for gauge reduction. A greater er fewer number of rolling stands can be provided in the mill 10 if desired. The last stand 14 of a previous reugher mill is shown. Interposed between the last rougher stand 14 and the rolling stand S1 is a roller hearth furnace 18 surreunding all or a portion of any werkpiece positioned en the mill entry table 20. The strip 16 passes from the last stand S6 of the mill 10 te a runout table 22 where a water spray 24 or other suitable coeling device controls the temperature at which the strip is coiled ontoa downcoiler 26. In this instance, the mill 10 is a het strip steel mill whch rolls the strip 16 from bars exited from the last rougher 14 and entered into the first stand S1, "hut other generally similar mills can be arranged te roll steel or other plastically deformable materials in accordance with the principles of the present inveution.

At each stand location, a pair of werk rolls 28 and a pair of. backup rolls 30 are provided in a conventienal manner. Respective motor drives Ml-M6 are provided at the stand locations te drive the work rolls 28 and transport the strip 16 through the mill 10. The gauge reduction produced by the various werk rolls 28 can Ibe set by centrelling the size of the respective werk roll openings through the application of the well known gauge control techniques.

Overall mill control preferably is provided =by a process computer system 32 suitably designed and programrned te provide the degree of digital process control desired. A data input devic34 such as a commerically available tape reader er card reader prevides initial data en input and output strip characteristics and other system parameters. The computer system 32 can provide legio control signals setting a reference speed fer each stand and the speed regulators SRL-SR6 operateto maintain the reference stand speeds. Successive stand speeds are progressively greater te transport the strip 16 smeethly as it is reduced in thickness. The proportional ratios of the respective stand speeds remain substantially constant ence set fer a particular werkpiece even though the mill may accelerate er decelerate as a whole. The computer system also operates furnace centrels 38 and 40 for controlling the temperature of furnace 18 in accordance wth the informatien received from the data input device 34 and the desired operating characteristics.

In accordance with the method principles of the present invention, the strip 16 is exited from the last rougher 14 onto the mill entry table 20. As the werkpiece remains en the table 20 the atrnosphere about the workpiece is entirely controlled by the surreunding furnace 18 such that a controlled and desired ambient temperature is maintained. At a particular time the werkpiece 16 is entered into and threugh the finishing stands S1-S6 at a first er threading speed preferably until the strip leaves the last stand er until the werkpiece 16 is threaded into the downcoiler 26. Although conventionally the werkpiece 16 weuld lose heat during the pre-entry and the rolling time peried to provide undesired delivery temperature rundown, in the present case lay contrelling the heat loss of the werkpiece strip en the mill table 20 and by controlling the acceleratien of the mill from a threading speed toward er te a predetermined run speed, effective regulation of delivery temperature is maintained from the last stand S6. The delivery temperature is preferably held smbstantially constant at a predetermined value te provide optimum metallurgical product.

In a typical werkpiece, strip delivery temperature rundewn forms a somewhat uniform gradient, and the ac celeration rate is, therefere, preferably centinuously held at a substantially constant value ence mill speed is initiated. It is also preferred that the acceleratien rate be relatively small fer maintaining optimum product. In this regard, minimizing heat loss en the mill entry ta ble can be of considerable advantage since smaller acceleratien rates can be used over a longer period of time thus allowing for rolling of extremely long workpieces.

For exarnple, ence the length of the finished werkpiece is determined, the mill acceleratien rate can be computed such that the mill will attain full speed as the tail end of the werkpiece strip is coiled by the downcoiler. The rate of heat loss from the werkpiece is a function of the mill speed and can be ernpirically determined for any given speed. Knowing in advance the desired delivery temperature and subtracting the heat added through the work forces at the finishing stand, a desired entry temperature can be determined. This entry temperature can then be used te determine the ambient tem;perature te be generated by the furnace in order te obtain the desired entry temperature.

T0 efect the described mill eperation, furnace controls 38 and 40 and acceleratien control 42 are provided for contrelling the mill entry temperature and the acceleratien rate reference signal respectively for the stand speed regulaters SR1-SR6. The furnace controle 38 and 40 may include a legio circuit designed te provide a plurality of voltage reference signals each associated with a particular furnace temperature. In a similar manner the acceleratien control 42 may include a logic circuit designed to provide a plurality of output acceleratien rate reference signals each associated with a particular mill acceleratien rate. The preselected mill operation is controlled by generating reference signals for both the furnace control and the acceleratien control in accordance with the operating parameters of the mill and the characteristics of the werkpiece.

A manual input 46 te the furnace control and a manual input 48 te the acceleratien control may also be used optionally te control the operation of the mill through changes in the furnace temperature and the acceleratien rate respectively. Meters 50 and 52 at the mill operators control panel can provide a c0ntinuous indication of operating conditions.

As the stand drives are accelerated, the runout table drive 52 and the spray control 54 along with the coiler control 56 are also accelerated by a speed sensor 58 ceupled te the last stand motor drive M6. The speed sensor 58 is suitably arranged te produce a reference signal whch causes the runout table and coiler speeds approximately to follow the mill speed on mill acceleration or mill deceleration to hold coiler tension substantially constant. The sprayer 24 is suitably controlled to provide the cooling etect needed to maintain desired coiling temperature as the strip 16 is coiled during the entire threading and acceleration and decelaration period of mill operation. The limit rate of spray cooling can in some cases limit the maximum mill acceleration rate.

When the computer system 32 is employed to operate the mill, a suitable temperature gauge 60, such as a pyrometer or the like provides a temperature indication of the workpiece as it exits from the rougher 14 or this can be predicted empirically by well known formulae. Knowing this temperature, the computer, in conjunction with the data from the data input device 34 concerning the length of the workpiece and the desired reduction, can set the furnace control to provide a suitable entry temperature at the first stand S1. Another temperature gauge 62 is positioned to measure the entry temperature and provide feedback to the computer system for further refinement in the furnace control signal for either increasing or decreasing the furnace temperature as required. As the strip delivery from the last stand S6 begins, a temperature gauge 64 provides a delivery temperature signal to the computer system 32 for adaptive feedback control of the acceleration rate reference signal set by the acceleration control 64 tot delivery temperature regulation. Feedback from the acceleration control 42 to the computer system 32 provides for a comparison of command acceleration rate and existing acceleration rate.

In FIG. 2, a graph is set forth illustrating the temperature rundown as a function of time for a 1.25 inch bar on a hot strip mill entry table 20 at various ambient temperatures. As might be expected the higher the surrounding or ambient temperature about the workpiece, the less temperature gradient will occur and thus the rate of heat loss is considerably lessened. In practical terms, then it would necessarily follow that maintaining a higher ambient temperature about the workpiece on the delay table will be of considerable value in that longer workpieces may be rolled since there will be a longer time before the entry temperature at the first stand S1 will fall below the allowable limit required for rolling.

FIG. 3 depicts curves for entry and delivery temperature and speed as a function of time for rolling a 1.25 inch bar to a 0.050 strip in a six-stand finisher having an ambient temperature at table 20 of 100 F. and with no temperature and acceleration control such as provided by the teachings of the present invention. After the workpiece is threaded during an interval of 18 seconds, a constant acceleration of 15 feet per minute per second is applied for the remainder of the workpiece as shown by curve 74. The finishing temperature as shown by curve 76 throughout the rolling operation is substantially constant once threading has occurred, however, there is a gentle negative slope to this curve during the last 20 seconds which would become increasingly negative had the workpiece been longer. The entry temperature of the strip when it enters the first stand is shown by the curve 78. It is apparent that this rate of acceleration is suitable for a workpiece of 4000 feet or less since the delivery temperature can be substantially maintained over the entire rolling operation. In an efr'ort to roll the workpiece strip to obtain a more uniform product, it may be desirable in some cases to roll the workpiece at a significantly higher finishing temperature by either increasing the rate of acceleration to lessen the time the workpiece is in the finishing stands and thereby reduce heat loss, or by shifting the decay curve of entry temperature frorn curve 78 to curve 80. By maintaining a higher entry temperature, as shown by curve 80, it would necessarily follow that a desirable delivery temperature would not have to be maintained with an increased acceleration rate to overoome the heat loss from the workpiece during rolling; moreover, a lower and more desirable rate could be maintained throughout the entire rolling operation. This would similarly be a solution to the rolling of workpeces of greater than 4000 feet in length since by dec reasing the acceleration rate and at the same time keeping it constant over the entire rolling peration, a substantially constant delivery temperature can be maintained as the entry temperature will decay at a much slower rate. In this manner the maintaining of a constant delivery temperature is more of a function of a less severe decay curve for entry temperature rather than a dependency upon a temperature increase through acceleration.

FIG. 4 is another illustration of entry and delivery temperature curves during acceleration of 20 feet per minute per second versus time trom rolling a 1.25 inch bar to a 0.075 inch strip in a six stand finishing mill and a F. ambient temperature. As can be seen from the curve 82 the delivery temperature is held to an average of approximately 1640" F. over the entire rolling operation. For purposes of comparisori, an entry temperature decay curve 88 for an ambient of 1500 F. is shown as well as the similar curve 86 for 100 F. ambient temperature. Using an acceleration rate of 20 feet per minute per second as shown by curve 84, the maximum speed of the mill is reached approximately 32 seconds before the entire workpiece is passed through the mill. After the mill has reached its maximum speed, the delivery temperature begins to drop off rapidly. Unless the acceleration and temperature control teachings of the present invention are used, any workpiece of length greater than that used here would be rolled at constantly decreasing delivery temperature thus resulting in significant nonuniformities in the end product.

The shift of the entry temperature curves as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 is accomplished through the proposed roller hearth furnace Which would be installed on the mill delay or entry table. This furnace may be heated electrically by resistance type heaters. The primary function of this furnace will not be that of adding heat to the workpiece, but rather to limit the heat loss from the workpiece by increasing the ambient temperature about the bar. It should be noted, however, that under certain circumstances it may be advantageous to use the furnace both as a means of increasng the ambient temperature around the workpiece and should the workpiece fall below a certain prescribed temperature level to then add heat thereto. Control of the furnace temperature would be coordinated with the mill acceleration rate in the schedule being rolled such that the mill would be accelerated in a fashion to maintain desired delivery temperature throughout the full length of the workpiece strip, and production rate of the mill would then be held as high as possible. The initial rate may be programmed by the computer and then, by using a suitable temperature sensing device, the strip delivery temperature could be used to modify the initial acceleration rate.

The foregoing description has been presented only to illustrate the principles of the invention. Accordingly, it is desired that the invention not be limted by the embodiment described, hut, rather, that it be accorded an interpretati0n consistent with the scope and spirit of its broad principles.

I claim as my invention:

1. A control system for a multi-stand workpiece rolling mill having a motor drive for each stand and a speed regulator for each motor drive and including heat supply means imrnediately preceding said stands, said system comprising control means for controlling the speed regulators and said heat supply means, and feedback means operative with said control means to control the acceleration of the mill and to control the ambient temperature of the workpiece passing through said heat supply means to regulate workpiece delivery temperature from the rolling mill within a predetermined range.

2. A control system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said feedback means includes a delivery temperature detector and coupled means responsive to said detector for controlling said speed regulator control means.

3. A control system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said feedback means includes a delivery temperature detector and means responsive to said detector for controlling the heat output of said heat supply means.

4. A control system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said feedback means includes a temperature detector at the entry to the heat supply means for controlling the workpiece temperature and the rate of acceleration of the workpiece as it passes through said stands.

5. A control system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said feedback means includes an entry temperature sensing device positioned in proximity to the first stand of the rolling mill, and means responsive to said temperature detector.

6. A control system as set forth in claim 1 with the rolling mill including an entry delay table wherein said heat supply means controls the atmosphere of the workpiece on said entry delay table thereby regulating the degree of oxidation of said workpiece.

7. In a method for operating a multi-stand hot strip reduction rolling mill to reduce the thickness of a workpiece and having a motor drive for each stand and a speed regulator for each motor drive, the steps of said method comprising operating the mill at a first speed, accelerating the rnll toward a higher run speed controlling the ambient temp'erature adjacent to the workpiece prior to the entry of said workpiece into the rolling mill, and controliing the -acceleration rate of the rolling mill to regulate strip delvery temperature substantially within a predetermined temperature range.

8. A mll operating method as as forth in claim 7 wherein the method steps urther comprise detecting the delivery temperature of the workpiece leaving the rolling mill and controlling the acceleration rate of the rolling mill and the ambient temperature of the workpiece prior to entry into the rolling mill.

9. A mill operating method as set forth in claim 7 wherein the method steps further comprise controlling said ambient temperature in such a manner as to achieve a substantially uniform delivery temperature of the workpece from the rolling mill.

Refereuces Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2139,483 12/1938 Badlam 72202 3,044,330 7/1962 Roberts 72-200 3,109,330 11/1963 Barnitz et al. 72-19 3,252,693 5/1966 Nelson 2663 3267,709 8/1966 OBrien 72-13 3,358,743 12/1967 Adams 164273 FOREIGN PATENTS 1209,983 2/ 1966 Germany.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examner. 

